Kabul

The Afghan women that came to Oslo as part of a delegation of the Taliban applied for asylum in Norway, a media report said on Saturday. the Taliban delegation paid a visit to Oslo last month to hold talks with Afghan politicians, civil activists, diplomats of Norway and other countries.

"The women who were invited to a meeting in Norway now asked for asylum there," said Khairullah Shinwari, the director of information technologies department of the Taliban led Afghan Foreign Ministry, as quoted by Russian news agency Sputnik.

Shafi Azam, another Afghan official of the country's Foreign Ministry, tweeted that women and the youth often "hide behind" the protection of civil rights to receive asylum abroad.

Last month, the UN International Labour Organization revealed that employment of women in Afghanistan dropped by 16 per cent in the third quarter 2021, after the Taliban seized power in Kabul.

In December 2021, the Taliban issued a decree on women's rights which acknowledged that women are not property and cannot be forced into marriage.

Later in January this year, the movement made it obligatory for women to wear face-covering hijab in public which caused protests in Kabul.